Stopping pupils from bringing mobiles into the classroom can have the same effect on their results as adding an extra week of lessons to the academic year, said researchers.

The study, published by the London School of Economics, found test scores of students aged 16 improved by 6.4 per cent in schools which had banned phones.

Schoolchildren who do not use their mobile phones in class get the equivalent of an extra week's worth of lessons a year, according to research (posed photo)

And it was low-achieving and poorer pupils who had the most to gain from eliminating the distraction of a mobile.

Low achievers’ test scores improved twice as much as those of average students, while there were also vast improvements for those eligible for free school meals – the Government’s measure of deprivation.

However the ban had no discernible effect on the highest achievers, said authors Louis-Philippe Beland and Richard Murphy, of LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance. A mobile phone ban is therefore an effective way to reduce inequality among students, the study found.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Share

It concluded: ‘We found that not only did student achievement improve, but also that low-achieving and low-income students gained the most.

‘The impact of banning phones for these students was equivalent to increasing the school year by five days. Allowing phones into schools will harm the lowest-achieving and low-income students the most.’

The authors added: ‘The results suggest that low-achieving students are more likely to be distracted by the presence of mobile phones while high achievers can focus in the classroom regardless of the mobile phone policy.’

Banning the devices can lead to an improvement of around six per cent in tests, it added, which is thought to be the same as an extra hour's studying a week (posed photo)

The research was carried out at schools in Birmingham, London, Leicester and Manchester before and after bans were introduced.

Results factored in gender, eligibility for free school meals, special educational needs status and prior educational attainment. In the UK, more than 90 per cent of teenagers own a mobile phone.

Many schools have introduced bans over the past decade. In a 2001 survey, no school banned mobiles, but by 2007 half had done so.

And by 2012, 98 per cent of schools either did not allow phones on school premises or required them to be handed in at the beginning of the day. However, some schools are now starting to allow limited use of the devices during the school day.

Teachers have had the legal right to confiscate items from pupils since April 2007, but there is no Government policy about mobile use in England, with individual schools making their own rules. In New York this year, mayor Bill de Blasio lifted a ten-year ban on phones on school premises, saying it would reduce inequality.

But the LSE authors disagree, saying their study – titled Ill Communication: The Impact of Mobile Phones on Student Performance –showed the absence of phones in classrooms actually increased equality in attainment.

‘Schools could significantly reduce the education gap by prohibiting mobile phone use,’ they said. ‘By allowing phones, New York may unintentionally increase the inequalities of outcomes.’